Avatar: The Last Airbender doesn't tell us much of anything about Aang's family. The only semblance of a family that we see Aang have in the original series is his relationship with Mong Gyatso. Avatar: The Legend of Korra exposes us to Aang's children, but what is revealed about them? There is more to Aang's family than one might think.
There are many secrets regarding Aang's family that through extensive viewings of the shows and readings of the comics someone can discover. This list is a summation of some of the secrets hidden in the world of Avatar regarding Aang's family from his past and his future.
10 Aang Never Met His Parents
The way Air Nomads raise their children is very different than the rest of the world. The air nomads left their children at temples so they could free themselves from earthly attachments. Think of what Guru Pathik says to Aang about severing the ties one has to those they love because it applies to all the nomads, not just the Avatar.
Because of this philosophy that the nomads abide by Aang's parents gave him up practically right away. This may seem cold at first, but it really doesn't seem to affect a young airbenders happy childhood. Aang never thought of his birth parents. He was content being raised by Monk Gyatso and the rest of the Southern Air Temple.
9 We Know Where His Parents Are From
Viewers never get to see Aang's parents, nor do we ever hear him talk about them. The show doesn't treat it like it's anything important, so they don't give us any information. Though the airbenders lived their lives as nomads, freely roaming the world, they had to have been raised somewhere, right?
The show and comics tell us that his father was probably from either the Northern or Southern Air Temples. as those were the ones that housed men. Conversely, his mother would have been raised in either the Eastern or Western Air Temples.
8 He Got A Water Tribe Family
It's not often that people think about the fact that Sokka and Aang were technically related in the end. His marriage to Katara meant that he was no longer without a family. He finally received something that he had been without for over a hundred years: a family.
His new family was a wide range of water tribe members. Fittingly, Sokka became his brother-in-law. He received a grandmother-in-law in Kanna, Katara and Sokka's grandmother. Most surprisingly, he became water tribe royalty in his marriage to Katara. Hokado, chief of the Southern Water Tribe, became his father-in-law making Aang a member of a royal family.
7 His Marriage To Katara Was Unorthodox
The comics go much deeper into the issue of interracial marriage than the show ever did. Viewers don't realize how out of the ordinary it is for an airbender to marry a waterbender unless they look at the larger world around Team Avatar.
The Four Nations were just that; four separate nations. Before Aang founded Republic City there was virtually no place on Earth for people of different backgrounds to come together. Aang and Katara's marriage is a rarity in the Avatar world because it was uncommon for people of different bending abilities and cultures to come together and fall in love as they did.
6 His Children Were Mixed Race
Like his marriage to a waterbender, Aang's mixed-race children were something you wouldn't find a lot of before Republic City. In Avatar: The Legend of Korra we meet a lot of people who were from families of many types of benders. Think of how nonchalant Bolin and Mako are about their family makeup.
In the comics, Aang comes to the realization that this type of world where people of every background come together is the world he wants to build. Before Aang's restoration movement, children with two different types of bending parents were extremely rare.
5 He Gave Most Of His Attention To Tenzin
Aang had a lot on his shoulders when he was rebuilding the world after the war. Most important to him was restoring the airbender population and culture. Since Tenzin was his only airbending child he made it a point to pass the responsibility onto him.
This heavy burden for the two put a strain on his relationship with his other kids. Aang would take Tenzin to different Airtemples to teach him about air nomad culture and spent more quality time with him. Aang's responsibility as the last airbender oftentimes meant sacrificing his responsibilities as a father to two non-airbending children.
4 Aang Supported Kya
Though Aang was not as present to his two non-airbending children he was still a supportive father. Kya was his waterbending daughter who had a free spirit and a pension for helping those in need. Kya spent much of her life traveling the world and healing people until Aang passed away.
At a young age, Kya discovered that she had a romantic interest in women. She eventually came out to her friends and family who were all supportive. The most supportive was Aang. Even though he wasn't present for much of her life he was still a proud and supportive father.
3 Bumi Joined The Military For His Dad
Bumi was the firstborn of Aang and Katara. He was a rambunctious child who only grew more wild as he became the only non-bender in his family. He made boisterous claims and oftentimes exaggerated stories to make himself seem as epic as his siblings.
Aang's distance to Bumi and Kya seemed to manifest itself in the two's life choices in different ways. Kya's choice to travel the world as a free spirit is reminiscent of ancient air nomad customs. Bumi chose to make his dad proud by connecting with Aang's military past. This is shown when he asks a statue of Aang if his life and career made him proud.
2 He Never Met His Grandkids
The Legend Of Korra introduced us to Tenzin's children, Jinora, Ikki, Meelo, and baby Rohan. It's shown that they all have great reverence and respect for their grandfather Aang, but it's very easy to deduce that they got the chance to meet him.
Korra is older than Jinora, the oldest of the grandchildren. Since Korra is the reincarnation of Aang that means Aang passed away before seeing Tenzin become a father. This would be a sad reality, but in the world of Avatar, it's made pretty clear that Aang at least got to see his grandkids through Korra.
1 He Was Spiritually Related To Zuko
The spiritual aspects of Avatar: The Last Airbender tie the character's together in more ways than one. Due to Aang being a reincarnation of past avatars his spiritual connections to people far outnumber his real-world connections.
His relationship with Zuko and the bond of destiny that ties them can be traced back over a hundred years ago to Avatar Roku. Roku was the Grandfather of Ursa, Zuko's mother, making Zuko Aang's great-grandson in a spiritual sense. This would also mean that Korra is spiritually related to the entire Airbender family she trains with.